Art Alexakis of grunge pop band Everclear ditched the full band and rolled through Center Stage for an acoustic show along with Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer and Ed Kowalczyk of Live a week ago today. He talked with longtime fan and writer Fauve Holihan about the tour, how having a hot teenage daughter is the pits for a dad, politics — including a chat with President "Barry" Obama — and how the movie The Cove is so very wrong.

How did you get hooked up with this Open Wings, Broken Strings Tour?

Actually, it just started because a little over a year ago, Ed [Kowalczyk of Live] and I did a benefit for the Boys and Girls Club of America in Arizona. And I took the gig, it didn’t pay hardly anything but it flew me there and my wife is from Arizona. So I got to bring my family to see grandma and it worked out. It was a good deal. It was a cool thing to meet Ed ’cause we had done shows together but we were in rock boy mode, you know, which was a whole different thing, and this time we talked and stuff. We just saw how people responded to hearing these songs — between the two of us, we had a lot of hit songs. And a lot of people really responded to hearing more acoustic versions of them. … So we just talked about how cool it would be to do it and he’s like, “We should do this as a tour.” Get another person or two and do it. And I’m like, “Awesome, let’s do it.” And you know, people always say that stuff, it’s like you meet people and [they say,] “Oh, we gotta hang out more, we gotta see each other,” and you’re like yeah, you know it’s never going to turn out to be anything. And two weeks later, he e-mailed me a poster. We didn’t even have a tour. We didn’t have anything, we had a poster. So he had been a busy little beaver. And it just started from there.

Good for you.

Yeah, it’s fun. I love doing it. I love doing solo stuff. My solo stuff when I go out is usually more political and I do like, you know, monologues. I tone it down a little bit for this. I come out and I tell more stories and stuff because I think it’s really interesting to hear the story behind the song. I think that as a music fan, I love stories. I want some detailed stories. I could sit there and listen to good stories all night. I really could.

When are you most prolific as a writer?

Probably when things are all fucked up.

Really?

Oh, sure. Everybody is, everybody is.

(Photos by Richard Thigpen, www.rthigpenphoto.com)

I don’t know, I mean, you have written some pretty cool stuff. You’ve got the new family again.

[Alexakis' daughter] Anna got accepted into Sarah Lawrence.

Did she really? Well, that’s awesome.

You guys know what that means? That is intense. That was her No. 1 pick, and I was dreading it. Because I was like, she’s not going to get in. She’s not going to get it, there’s no way.

So is she a junior or a senior?

She’s a senior. She turns 18 in three months. And my 2-year-old [Arizona Star] is talking, potty-trained.

So you have this baby a long time ago, and then you have this new baby. So what’s the difference between Anna and Arizona Star?

Well, they’re totally different personalities. They love each other, which is awesome. Sometimes opposites attract. But they’re sisters. They’re still sisters. And they love their dad. And I’m a doting daddy, I really am.

What’s it like for daddy, though, the second time around?

I love it. I just I wish I had the money I had the first time. You know, I don’t. But that’s OK. I still work and I make a good living. I have to work my ass off … we all have to get creative. You got to think outside the box. Especially me, I won’t get a salary. So if people aren’t buying shows, I don’t work.

Well, it was old school. It changed a little bit but it was the old-school major label, you know, tour, make a record, tour cycle, make a record cycle, cycle, cycle, cycle, cycle. And I’ve gotten off of that treadmill on purpose. And it’s hurt in some ways. I’ve made some choices that like if I lived in L.A. as opposed to living in Portland I think I would have done better. If I had gone to the right parties. I mean, that kind of nepotism really works, it really does.

Even still?

Oh, I see people all the time that aren’t that talented get so much press because they schmooze up to people. I was thinking about that today. I was reading this book and it’s talking about how Wall Street people buy into all this stuff and they know that they are capitalizing on other people’s misery. I can’t do that. I’m a pretty shrewd businessman, but I’ll never be that successful because I can’t screw people like that. It’s not right. It’s the whole derivative thing, it’s just reprehensible. They knew what they were doing, and they were trying to sell this ideal to people and soapbox it.

They were trying to sell this ideal to people. You’re making 50 grand a year, that’s a good living. You can afford a $150,000 house or a $200,000 house. You cannot afford a $600,000 house. There’s no way. No economist is gonna go, “Oh, yeah, you can afford that.” Just because a mortgage broker can get you in the house doesn’t mean you should be there.

And it’s, you know, it’s this whole thing of like, as women you were … being skinny is jammed into your mind from the time you’re this old. Even my daughter, I will get violent with people if they try to put that on my kids. But my teenager’s already got it. And she’s beautiful. She’s 5’11’’, 110 pounds.

Is she really that tall?

She’s got big boobs, which pisses me off but that’s what you get, right, when you have a baby with a woman whose pretty with big boobs. That’s what ya get. But she’s got low self-image. I mean, what do you do about that? But every woman I know has it to a certain degree. It’s hard not to be. It’s jammed into you.

But it’s the same thing with the selling of this stuff. See, this is the stuff I think about, I think I got things to write about. The new record … the first song on it is probably going to be a song called “White People Scare Me.” They do. Nuclear bombs, Hitler, I mean, come on. Republicans, for the most part. … Sorry about soapboxin’ like that.

You’re best on your soapbox.

Well, yeah. I know, but you gotta be cool. We’re in the South. I know you guys might be a little more liberal than the average person in the South, but I’ll go out there and say Bush jokes and people will be like (negative sound effect). There is a lot of hate in this country. That whole tea party thing? All racially motivated, 100 percent, 100 fucking percent.

The last time you and I had a political discussion was here in Atlanta, after the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Yep, I was an elected delegate.

Yes, and I asked what you thought of the keynote speaker [then state Sen. Barack Obama].

Did I tell you that I sat next to him that day? So I was an elected delegate, but since I was a celebrity, they put like VH1 with a crew following me around, but I still took it very seriously. I went to the breakfast caucus that not a lot of people went to, you know, and I went there and they would have like multistate caucuses like Oregon, Michigan, Illinois, and so I went to this one and I’m sitting there taking notes and this guy goes, “Hey bro, can I sit down next to you? Can I take this seat?” And I go, “Sure, no problem.” He’s this tall, skinny, good-lookin’ black guy. “What’s going on?” He says, “I’m Barry.”

Barry!

And I’ve had other people who said he didn’t call himself Barry – he called himself Barry.

I believe you.

It’s the truth. The truf! He sat down and then we’re talking … “How are you doing? I’m the state senator from blah blah blah,” and I said, “I’m the guy from Everclear.” He goes, “Yeah, I know, I see the cameras.” And we’re talking and so maybe he sat down next to me because he’d be on camera. … Look, look, there are no accidents in this world, and I’m not gonna hold it against him. You guys ever read Malcolm Gladwell? Tipping Point, Outliers? This stuff isn’t an accident. And that’s cool. And he gets up and starts talkin’ … and I’m getting hairs on the back of my neck! Like, who is this guy? I ask [the guy next to me] and he’s like, “That guy’s up and coming, he’s doing the keynote speech, he’s a state senator from Illinois.” And I was like, 40 rows back, and when he came up and did that speech, I was on fire.

You were still on fire two months, three months after the fact.

And I told you that this guy is either going to be president, or run for it. I didn’t think it was going to be in 2008, though. I thought he was going to work on campaigns. I thought Hillary [Clinton] was going to run in 2008. I didn’t think anyone was going to go up against Hillary, and I was bummed because I still don’t know that Hillary would have even beaten John McCain. I still don’t know.

It’s very personal with women against Hillary.

Oh no, I know. But now I think she’s doing the right thing. And it’s really funny because I said to someone the other day, I go, “You know what they’re going to do? I’ll tell you what they’re going to do. [Vice President] Joe Biden and Hillary? They’re gonna switch. This next time, he’s gonna take secretary of state. Everybody in the Beltway is sayin’ that right now. [Sen.] Ron Wyden from Oregon told me, he goes, “There’s talk.”

Yeah, it wouldn’t suck. I mean, really.

It’d be a great move. Because it would energize [Obama’s] campaign, it would make it look like they were finally made up, they were on the same team, and it would set her up. … She would be running for president at 68. Damn, like look at her. I don’t think that she’d be fallin’ asleep like Regan would. You’re old enough to remember Reagan. …

So what do you think about Barack?

I think he’s learning. I’m glad that it seems like in the last couple of weeks, it seems like he’s gettin’ his balls back. And don’t even get me started on reconciliation. I am so pissed off about that. “Oh, if you do this and you ram this down…” Stop using those words, “ram it down.” The American people do want it, it was the motivating [factor] in 2008. We voted for him. We want him to be a man. Even his critics want him to be a man and be that tough guy, like, “Screw you, I’m the president. This is the way it’s gonna be.” He’s doin’ it now, and I’m glad. He’s gettin’ his juice back. The whole bipartisan thing, it doesn’t exist.

Tell me, what’s on your iPod?

I don’t have an iPod.

Tell me what you’re listening to. Are you producing, by the way?

I am producing, but I’m working on a new record, so right now, I’m listening to new Everclear songs, and just rough demos, and writing notes, and saying I want to move this and do this or write lyrics for this and scratch this song, and writing new songs, and so that’s where I’m at right now, and I don’t really listen to a lot. … I did break out some power pop punk stuff, you know, like the Descendents that I hadn’t really listened to. I really love that stuff. It’s just fun, you know. I like great pop rock songs, big guitars, Cheap Trick, how can you not like that? It’s like three minutes of just candy, you know? It’s good stuff.

What do you miss from the go-go ’90s, and what are you glad you don’t have to deal with anymore?

Divorce. Um, what do I miss? (Pause.) I miss working with the professionals that the system had, because the people I was working with were really professional, at every level, and that was fun, to just work and then to see people who could think outside the box, and made things happen.

You mean at the label?

All over. And the whole system — the label, the promoters, the people doing marketing, the management, just everything was a step up. And now it’s more DIY, and that’s cool, and I have more control over it, but it was fun working with professionals. That era is gone. But it was fun while it lasted. Other than that, you know, I’m not gonna lie, I wish I had a little more money. I wish I didn’t have to worry about much. I wish I could buy my wife fancy dresses instead of the knock-offs. And my wife rocks that stuff, she doesn’t mind shopping at Forever 21, she goes there. But you know, my last ex-wife, I wasted so much money on her. She was kinda a mean lady. She was pretty, but she was mean. This one’s pretty and nice. I like that.

It’s been fun. It’s doin’ well. See, it’s not my thing to market. If it was, it would be done differently. One of the great things about the system changing is that now you can’t rely on anybody. I learned that with Everclear. Last year with Everclear, we went through points when all but two shows we sold out. We had street teams, we had publicists, I was doing interviews, I was doing podcasts, I was doing everything specifically for those markets, to get people, make people aware that we were coming, ’cause I believe that if people knew we were comin’, they would come to see us play. And that’s what happened.

But before it was just like, “Oh, well, you know, you guys just don’t have a following anymore.” Well, what’d you do to promote it? “Well, we fliered.” Oh, where? Well, actually, they didn’t put the fliers up. So you didn’t put the fliers up, but we still have sold the venue for like 400 people, whereas if you had fliered, and you had gotten radio ads … you know, like working with the professionals. Back then, everyone created a radio ad. You were out there. It made sense. And it’s just like, now it’s all like this tour here. We had three people from bands with a lot of hit songs, lot of hit songs. Can you imagine that on a 30 second radio ad? People would go, “Oh, 25 bucks? Yeah, I’m there.”

Ultimately, you know… make it work. It’s just like… someone should be sending viral stuff of the live shows, you know, little snippets of jokes and songs and stuff online, marketing that stuff. No one’s doing that. That’s what we gotta do, ’cause it’s out there. The tools are there, and the people are, and I think that the economy has come back up to where people wanna see some entertainment.

Yeah, and this isn’t gonna break anyone’s bank.

Yeah, and what is it, 20 bucks, 25 bucks is not that much money anymore. It used to be. I remember going on a date when I was 18, getting two lobster dinners for 25. And tip! (Laughs.) We did a bunch of coke in the car and we didn’t need a whole lobster! (Laughs.) We didn’t need a lobster, we did a bunch of coke and went to fancy dinners, and then we didn’t eat them.

When’s the album coming out?

Well, we’re hopin’ September. Well, we’ll see, you know. We’re going in and recording it in May, mixin’ it in June, and then hopefully touring all summer, trying to set up tours. There was a possibility of getting in on the Warped Tour. I haven’t heard back from the guy. I talked to Kevin Lyman about it, [and he] said he’d try to get me some dates. And I haven’t heard back from him, but I hear that’s pretty par for the course, he’s like the busiest guy in the world. So hopefully that will happen, and maybe we’ll get some other shows. I really think we need to be on packages. I think that bands from the ’90s need to do packages together.

R&B and hip-hop bands from that era in the ’80s and ’90s do it, and they’re so successful.

And it wins! They win! Everybody wins. It’s not a competition, everybody could win. Just be smart, you know, make money. Touring with the old hip-hop guys, it’s a whole different world. You know, they don’t do points. They want cash on the barrelhead. And you can go to them and go, “Look, man, if you take a $10,000, $20,000 guarantee, then if you’re gonna sell out Philadelphia, it’s gonna happen. You’re gonna make $400,000.” And then you’re dealing with $200,000 upfront. And I get it, because I come from that culture. I understand it. ‘Cause cash in the hand means cash in the hand. I have $200,000 in my hand, then you ain’t touchin’ it. And it’s not maybe, it ain’t the man givin’ it to me, and it ain’t some white guy tellin’ me it’s gonna happen.

It’s you getting your worth.

But yeah. We took Redman on tour.

(Laughs.) I can only imagine.

That guy was so down. He was awesome. I love that guy. We would play old R&B stuff, and all sorts of shit. ’Cause he grew up in the housing projects, and I grew up in the housing projects. But yeah, he got kicked off that tour because he, uh, was with the 14- or 15-year-old daughter of the police chief, chief of police of Fargo.

I liked In a Different Light, and your CD before then, too …

Drama Club?

Yeah, Welcome to the Drama Club, and “Your Arizona Room” … it was very touching, certain songs.

It was very personal. I mean, I needed to do that, I knew it wasn’t going to sell a lot of records. It ended up selling 80,000 records, which is pretty good, not bad.

You know what, though, I think in a lot of ways, knowing what was going on and sort of knowing your backstory, it’s an incredibly touching and personal piece of work.

Yeah, I just, I just needed to do that. I should have not put it out for the public.

You don’t think?

Nah, I knew it was too personal.

It was good, though.

I think there were some good lessons, people could get into it, you know. To make things, to find a universal theme is, I think, it’s kinda … start from somewhere personal, but it’s also gotta be something a lot of other people can relate to. Like “Father of Mine” or “I Will Buy You a New Life,” songs like that. Definitely. I think there was a universal appeal. I made that record [So Much for the Afterglow] for not very much money and I think it’s great. Lot of spirit, lot of swing. It’s one of the funkier records. There are more R&B influences on it. This record is gonna be a rocker. The guitars are turned up on this one. I mean, come on, “White People Scare Me”? There’s a song called “Dance, Motherfucker, Dance.” (Laughs.)

Something tells me Bill O’Reilly’s going, “Yes…” I love the way you kept calling him “brother.”

It’s on YouTube.

Great TV, it really was.

Yeah, well, you know, they didn’t even protest that Jesus was a Democrat. They were scared of it. It got a lot of press. And downloads, a lot of downloads. But the right wing just didn’t want to touch that. Jesus really was a liberal. Read his works. He was a liberal. He was not a conservative. But people have bought into that for so long. I know the Bible. See, I grew up with a crazy Bible-thumper mom, I know the Bible really well. There were people who will point at the Bible and say, “Look, it says that slavery is OK,” right? And that’s not OK. We know that’s not OK.

Did you see the movie The Cove? It’s a seriously, seriously scary movie.

Is it really?

Yeah, it’s about Japanese people who eat dolphins. And they’re seamen, and they say it’s part of their culture, and slavery was a part of our culture, but that doesn’t make it OK. This just isn’t OK, we gotta stop this. You’ll get it, you’ll figure it out, it’ll be rough but you’ll figure it out. Yeah, it’s nasty. And there’s sushi bars all over this country that have secret menus that serve whale and dolphin.

Disgusting. It’s like that movie The Freshman …

(Laughs.) “Henry loves komodo dragon.” Yeah, that was awesome. They were gonna eat. “Oh, this is delicious, like pork chops.”